The
Green Hornet was originally a product of 1930's radio and not comic
books. Other than that minor distinction, the similarities to Batman
were many; wealthy Britt Reid, crusading newspaper editor (whatever
happened to those guys?!?) and his butler Kato are secret nighttime
crimefighters. They patrol the city in their souped-up car and capture
do-badders with high-tech weapons and old-fashioned karate chops.

Keeping
with the winning formula, Van Williams, another detective show cast-off
(Bourbon Street Beat, Surfside Six) was hired for the lead
role. Kato was embodied by relatively unknown martial-arts master Bruce
Lee, who went on to movie icon status and an early, mysterious
death. Paid only $400 per episode, Lee claimed the reason he got the
part was because he was the only person who auditioned that could accurately
pronounce the name Britt Reid.

View the unaired pilot for The Green Hornet.

TVparty
reader Howard Moore tells us, "You couldn't be more wrong when
you say that Bruce Lee primarily got the job of Kato on The Green
Hornet because he could pronounce 'Britt Reid.' That was something
Bruce Lee would say as a joke.

"Actually,
William Dozier was looking to cast an Asian in the part of 'Number One
Son' in a remake of Charlie Chan and it was his hairstylist,
Jay Sebring who suggested Bruce Lee (he had seen Lee perform at a karate
tournament in Long Beach, California). After testing Bruce and signing
him to a year-option, the Charlie Chan deal fell through, but
Dozier had by then become interested in doing The Green Hornet
and cast Lee in that instead."

View Bruce Lee's screen test for The Green
Hornet.

On
the very first episode, The Green Hornet and Kato delved into the mystery
of "The Silent Gun," a flimsy story about gun that made no
noise. The next week, they faced a strangler, the next a killer pet
leopard.

The overall
pedestrian nature of the scripts became quickly apparent, pointing up
the inherent problem with this series. Why have two fantastically clad
heroes in a blown-out muscle car when all they're after are two-bit
burglars, bootleggers, and common kidnappers?

In
an attempt to generate some buzz, the Green Hornet and Kato appeared
on two episodes of Batman in March, 1967. When the heroes /
adversaries squared off against each other, Bruce Lee expressed extreme
displeasure that he had to let Robin win their match. The Gung Fu athlete
wanted to really let loose on Burt Ward and kick his pampered TV-star
ass all over the lot.

Dark,
moody, serious, and slotted on Friday nights (where no fantasy show
had ever done well), The Green Hornet wasn't the hit ABC was
looking for.

Ironically,
the series had everything it needed to be a hit; the concept was there,
the production looked great—they had only to unleash Bruce Lee.
That would happen later, in another medium.

CBS and
NBC were determined not to make the same mistake when they launched
their superhero rip-offs. They would make darn sure their offerings
were as silly as they could possibly be.

Mr.
Terrific on CBS was the story of nerdy Stanley Beamish, who works
for the Bureau of Special Projects in Washington, D.C. As part of his
job, he swallowed an enormous
jawbreaker-sized "Power Pill" developed by the
government that turns him (and only him) into a superhero with tremendous
powers—for one hour. Trouble comes when the pill wears off and
timid Stanley is forced to face the crooks without his super-abilities.
Mr. Terrific can even fly during his brief hour of power but he has
to flap his arms to do it!

Also
appearing on the series were Dick Gautier (Hymie the Robot from Get
Smart) as gas station attendant Hal and John McGiver as head of the
government bureau that watches over Stanley.

Typical
plots: Stanley finds himself with a miniature transmitter implanted
in his tooth when he visits a spy dentist; while the president's plane
flashes an SOS, Stanley is busy seeing a psychiatrist about his temporary
inability to fly; in another episode Stanley impersonates a safe cracker
that is his exact double. I told you they were typical plots!

TVparty-er
David Kaufman
remembers,
"A regular gimmick on Mr. Terrific was the photographic
and sound effects used when Stanley took the power pill. His face would
turn various colors and smoke would come from his mouth/ears (a la Mr.
Drysdale drinking Granny's moonshine).

"When
MT's buddy Hal or anyone else would take the pill, instead of becoming
super-powered, lens effects were used to make their head shots briefly
become wider/thinner. Very clever for 1967 TV.

"Another
running gag was the "jet blast" effects with unfortunate results whenever
MT took off. It was corny, yes, but very amusing all the same. Captain
Nice had very few scenes of the cap flying.

"The
producers must have had budget or production problems. When he did fly,
usually shown in very short spurts, there was a good sound effect, a
bit like that of Hanna-Barbera/Alex Toth's Mighty Mightor.

"The
movie Boogie Nights had a scene in which an extra was dressed
in a Captain Nice costume! This little homage blew me away when I saw
it, that anyone would remember and care enough to do that, knowing that
very few viewers would 'get it'."

You
can still see Mr. Terrific occasionally. Several episodes were
combined to make a TV-movie called The Pill Caper. Unfortunately,
because the main character gets his powers by taking drugs, this series
itself was never offered by the studio
for syndication.

Mr.
Terrific debuted on CBS January 9, 1967. That very same night,
immediately after it went off the air, in fact, Captain
Nice
hit the airwaves over on NBC, brought to you by the creators of Get
Smart.

This steroidal
sitcom starred William Daniels (that old guy on St. Elsewhere)
as Carter Nash, a police chemist who develops a serum giving him basically
the same powers as Mr. Terrific, except Captain Nice didn't
have to flap his arms to maneuver the friendly skies. Oh, and it was
Carter's mom who made his dopey-looking costume.

TVparty
reader D.J. adds, "Do you know how Captain Nice/Carter Nash got
his super hero name? The initial chemical explosion conveniently ripped
Carter's business suit down to cutoff pants over long johns (that his
overbearing mother made him wear) and his suit coat was reduced to a
swatch of cloth hanging down his back. A witness to his first adventure
pointed out and asked him about his monogrammed 'C.N.' belt buckle.

"Carter
made up the name Captain Nice off the top of his head (and almost immediately
regretted doing so). His mom made his dorky costume and made him wear
it before letting him go on his next mission."

In one
episode, Captain Nice battled a psychotic doctor who kidnaps Candy Cane,
injecting her with a lethal tropical poison. In another, Carter tries
to become Captain Nice, only to find his mother drank all of the formula.

View Captain Nice from You Tube

After
The Green Hornet proved a disappointment, Dozier filmed two
dreadfully lame "campy" pilots featuring comedic versions
of Wonder Woman and Dick Tracy but they went nowhere.

Hurting
for fresh ideas, the TV producer went back to Julie Schwartz and Carmine
Infantino (remember them?). Sinister Catwoman, Dozier told them, was
the public's favorite character on Batman but she couldn't
be featured every week.

What
could be done? The comic book guys came up with Batgirl, designing a
form-fitting costume similar to Catwoman's with an added cape and groovy
Bat-cycle for Dozier
to copy. A zippy pilot episode was produced for a Batgirl series, with
Yvonne Craig, a favorite of summertime beach movies, cast to fit the
super-heroine's tights.

As the
1966–67 season rolled to a close, super-heroes were falling by
the wayside. Bat-mania was wearing off like a bat drug. With ratings
in the cellar, Captain Nice flew off the screens on August
28, 1967, the same night Mr. Terrific flapped his last.

View the Batgirl pilot from
You Tube

ABC
realized they needed a way to get the spark back into Batman,
renewed for a third season but down to just one night a week.

Rather
than risk a spin-off from a sinking franchise, Batgirl was added to
the roster of Batman in the fall of 1967. With more lead characters,
less time for story, and a week between cliffhangers, the formula wore
paper-thin. Still, there were third season highlights like Batman and
the Joker competing in a surfing contest, Ida Lupino as the entrancing
Dr. Cassandra, and Anne Baxter as Queen of the Cossacks teamed with
Vincent Price as Egghead.

In
a casting choice that sent shockwaves through Hollywood, Eartha Kitt
took over the role of Batman's love-interest Catwoman.

Forget
the bi-racial aspect (which producers did by ignoring the romantic angle),
Kitt was virtually blacklisted by the networks after she spoke out against
the war during an event at the Johnson White House.

Bat-ratings
were down in 1968, adult viewership dwindled to a mere 10 percent. With
only kids watching and the show consistently over-budget, the decision
was made to cancel Batman and take the money and run—straight
to afternoon syndication of the reruns.

NBC discussed picking up Batman for a fourth season and a deal was almost struck, but they backed out
because of the expense of rebuilding the Batcave set, which had been
destroyed just days after the cancellation notice came down.

Ironically,
while Batman had been saved in the comics by making him more serious,
the TV program and unbridled exploitation made the character a buffoon
in the mind of the public. When the Bat-fad past, sales of comic books
in general plummeted. Batman comics in particular took a beating,
leading to the near extinction of the character (and the entire industry)
a decade later.

In a bizarre
twist, Captain Nice co-star Ann Prentiss (sister of Paula from
He & She) was convicted by a Santa Monica, California court
of battery in 1998 for assaulting her eighty-six-year-old father, solicitation
of murder, assault with a firearm, and making terrorist threats toward
Richard Benjamin, her sister's husband and TV co-star.

Green
Hornet on DVDPlot Outline A newspaper publisher and his Asian valet/martial
arts expert battle crime as the feared Green Hornet and Kato.

Plot Synopsis: Britt Reid,
daring young owner/publisher of "The Daily Sentinel," dons a
mask and fights crime as The Green Hornet. While the police and public
believe the Hornet to be a ruthless criminal, the District Attorney knows
Reid's secret identity, and welcomes his assistance in fighting racketeers
and criminals. Also assisting Reid in his crusade are his secretary, Lenore
Case, and his faithful valet, Kato, who is a kung fu expert and who drives
the sleek "Black Beauty," the Hornet's well armed car.

And who can forget - wait, who
can remember? - the 2 Green Hornet movie serials from 1940-41.

Batman TV Show on DVD!

THE
MR. TERRIFIC
THEME SONG:

A
scientist both wise and bold
Set out to cure the common cold
Instead he found a power pill
Which he said most certainly will
Change a lamb into a lion
Like an eagle he'll be flyin
Solid steel will be like putty
It'll work on anybody.

Then
it was found this power pill
Made the strongest men quite ill
So the secret search began
To find the one and only man
Who can take this power pill specific
And turn into the most prolific, terrific, Mr. Terrific!

What
they found made them squeamish
For only Stanley Beamish
A weak and droopy daffodil
Can take this potent power pill
That sent him soaring through the skies
Fighting foes and fighting spies.
When he took the pill specific,
He became the most prolific, Hydrolific, MR. TERRIFIC!!!

For the record, the recitation of these immortal words
was performed by the late, great cartoon voicemaster, Paul Frees.

-
Michael Scholl

"I
saw them both and frankly can't believe your comments about Mr. Terrific.
I found it to be about as cornball as any TV sitcom could possible be. Perhaps
production values were high but quality of writing and comedy was not!

"On
the other hand, Captain Nice was an outstanding program, particularly
the comedy writing and situations. In my opinion, Captain Nice
was quite a bit funnier than Buck Henry's own Get Smart.

"It
is sad if you can actually occasionally see reruns or snippets of Mr.
Terrific (what a bore) and I have never seen anything of Captain
Nice after it went off the air. Is there any video anywhere of any
episode?"- David
Gortner

"In
Germany 'Mr. Terrific' was a "must view" when we were kids...

"Indelible
impression... it was called 'Immer wenn er Pillen nahm' (Whenever he took
pills) and ran together with 'MaxwellSmart', 'Moonbase Alpha', and 'Raumpatroille'."

- norb

"Mr.
Terrific", "Run Buddy Run" and Mel Brooks' "When things Were Rotten" are
among my fondest TV show memories from my early childhood.

"Since
you have the original song from Mr. Terrific on your site, here's
the German version (I was living in Germany at the time):

"The
show was titled "Immer wenn ER Pillen nahm" (sort of "Whenever he was
taking pills"):